As air pollution forces schools to halt or restrict physical classes, parents and teachers voice growing concerns that these quick fixes are disrupting learning, especially for students facing the digital divide and scarce resources.
A directive issued on December 15 said students from Nursery to Class 5 will move to online classes. Other students will have hybrid classes, except those in Grades 10 and 12.
Several government school principals said it is hard to run online classes because most students do not have smartphones, tablets, or laptops.
“Only 2% of our students have their own phones. Their parents have phones but need them for work. Parents either leave their phones at home or take time off to let their children attend classes, but this is not possible for everyone. Most students cannot join online classes. To help, we share homework on WhatsApp groups,” a principal said.
A government school principal said that from Class 6 onwards, about 30-35% of students come to school, 10-20% attend online, and nearly half are absent.
